Monday, November 19, 2007

Autumn Rains



The Philadelphia area is being blessed with rains this week, and the Farmer’s Almanac suggests that we may have snow in our near future. Certainly the deer are aware of the coming cold: they’ve all donned their grey winter coats.

With the late summer, Philadelphia is still seeing lots of color in the trees. In fact, Jesse Milton of the Trees News blog has observed some excellent autumn color in Atlanta, Georgia. Soon Pennsylvania will be grey and brown all over, with small patches of pink and orange where the young beech trees still hold their leaves (a process called leaf marcescence – some oaks and other trees do this too).

Today’s images include two staples of the local winter bird diet: pin cherries (Prunus pennsylvatica), and multiflora rose hips (Rosa multiflora). As the cold sets in, these tiny fruits will be stripped from every branch by a variety of small birds. These small birds constitute much of our passing winter color (unfortunately birds, unlike trees, can fly away from my camera).
Until then, enjoy the show – Pin cherry trees are one of my Pennsylvania favorites.

2 comments:

  1. Rain is becoming more of a blessing all the time, isn't it? It's not as pure and clean as it once was, but still so essential for life. I still remember my mom collecting rainwater for washing our hair, it was so soft (the rain water) compared to our city tap water. Beautiful photos JL!

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  2. Geraldine, I have always loved rain! Much as I miss the Seattle rain, Pennsylvania does have one clear advantage: summer rain!! I have certainly "showered" in the rain, but I just love the idea of collecting a nice, fresh bowl of rainwater for washing. Simple pleasures, eh G?

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